BEIJING: Pesident Xi Jinping underlined on Wednesday the importance of promoting the high-quality development of Xiong’an New Area with unremitting efforts and building it into a “city of the future”, a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, and a model of green development.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection tour of Xiong’an. Covering 1,770 square kilometers, the area is located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing.
On April 1, 2017, China announced the decision to establish Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province, to relieve Beijing of functions not essential to its role as the national capital and to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. During the one-day tour, Xi visited the Xiong’an high-speed railway station, a residential community and a construction site. When talking with local residents, Xi said he has a strong connection to Hebei, where he used to work, and it is his wish for it to develop well. The construction of Xiong’an has lasting importance for the millennium to come, so it is important to be patient and take solid steps in a constant manner, he said.
Speaking at a symposium, Xi said that over the past six years, the new area has witnessed major improvements in infrastructure construction, ecological protection, and reform and opening-up.
Preliminary progress has been made in relieving Beijing of functions not essential to its role as the nation’s capital, and the resettlement of local residents has taken place in an orderly manner, he said.
Xi said it was a miracle that a high-level modern city is taking shape from a blueprint and this is not an easy thing, particularly given the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years and the unprecedented changes that the world is undergoing. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
